Domestic Spying

The following cartoon appeared in Slate Magazine recently. Spying on ordinary civilians, especially of Muslim or Arab descent is a big deal in the US these days. As a Pakistani in the US, I am also subject to it, and live each day knowing that much more info about me is probably being scritinized and stored at all kinds of agencies and private corporations than I would like – not because I have anything to hide but because I have no idea when a malicious entity (individual or organization) may get a hold of such information and use it unfairly against me. We hear each day about security breaches or lapses, when personal information is lost or stolen. In an information-heavy worldm loss of such information is a scary proposition. Until American citizens work to protect their own privacy and privacy of visitors like myself, I may stand exposed and vulnerable.

Anyways: the cartoon says a lot about the current priorities of the national security folks in this country. I was told today by a friend, who works for the US Army, that the US army budget cuts have forced workers at another army camp (in the US) to bring their own toilet paper to work. Isn’t that just crazy?!? Billions down the drain in misguided wars and pinching pennies on toilet paper?